In the pantheon of po-boys that are popular along the Upper Gulf Coast, one of my favorites is a crispy fried fish po-boy. (submitted photo)

There are a host of tasty foods and dishes that are emblematic of the Upper Gulf Coast, everything from etouffee to West Indies Salad.

But of all the foodstuffs that are to be found along this golden strand of land that stretches roughly from Houston to the Panhandle of Florida, I would argue that none is more pervasive and popular than a sandwich that began (like so many other good things do) in New Orleans.

The po-boy is not just a single entity. Oh no, a sandwich that big is too good to try and pigeon hole in a single offering.

It can be anything you want it to be. Anything from oysters and shrimp (or both) to French fries, sausage, crawfish and roast beef are all very respectable and very tasty versions of this classic sandwich. What ties them all together is an inexpensive sandwich that is fit for a king.

But there is one version of the po-boy that doesn’t get a lot of ink but is nonetheless very popular is a sandwich made with any of a variety of fried fish. A fried fish po-boy is a wonderful way to enjoy the delicious fish from the region in a fashion that is very much at home here.

The trick to a good fried fish po-boy is to get really fresh fish and to fry that fish up quickly with a thick, spicy coating. Getting the fresh fish part is easy; the frying part is something more open to interpretation than you might think.

Why? Because frying fish in these parts is a chore that is taken very, very seriously. It’s a process, a rite of passage that is handed down from generation to generation with each succeeding group adding just a little bit of personality to make it their own.

In short, everybody has the “right” way to do it. And they are all correct.

The method outlined below is the formula of choice for a lot of old-school fish frying folk. That would be me since this is how I learned to fry fish a long, long time ago. I learned it at a fishing camp in South Louisiana nearly 35 years ago and I still use it today.

The thing is, this is not my recipe. It’s a recipe offered by somebody I trust when it comes seafood, somebody who ought to know about the fish found in Alabama’s coastal waters.

Chris Blankenship is the chairman of the Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission. He has worked on shrimp boats, commercial red snapper boats and charter fishing boats along the Alabama coast and is also an avid recreational fisherman.

Did I mention that he is the head of the Alabama Marine Fisheries Department? Yeah, he knows his fish.

He offered his thoughts on how to best fry fish for use in a po-boy. Although he didn’t mention how to serve the fish, I’m assuming that he likes it like I like it done, which is fully dressed.

A fully dressed po-boy comes with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and (sometimes) tartar sauce or mayonnaise. Fresh, thin-sliced red onion are a nice touch but not necessary.

So if you don’t have a preferred method of frying to call your own, here is one that you can co-opt with impunity. If anybody asks, it’s yours.

And before you can ask the answer is “no.” You can’t taste the mustard after it is cooked. The mustard merely acts as a mechanism to hold the breading on the fish while it cooks.

(Don’t tell anybody, but the mustard trick also works well when frying chicken or pork chops.)